Hi,
I found I had two queens, both laying in one of my hives. With the help of an excluder I determined that one was a bit more productive. I removed the one queen and put her in a makeshift cage about 30 feet from her hive and went back to work. After I was done and the hive all closed up I noticed the queen had escaped an flew off. What are the odds she finds her way back into here original hive?
Cheers,
Patrick
she may. i had one do that. she made it as far as the landing board. ? why remove her? there is nothing wrong with a 2 queen hive. it's a good thing.
Quote from: kathyp on August 05, 2009, 03:15:10 PM
she may. i had one do that. she made it as far as the landing board. ? why remove her? there is nothing wrong with a 2 queen hive. it's a good thing.
I didn't know there could be two queens in one hive ?
it is not as uncommon as you might think. there was an article on this not so long ago. maybe someone has a link and will post it.
Quote from: Patrick on August 05, 2009, 03:08:40 PM
Hi,
I removed the one queen and put her in a makeshift cage about 30 feet from her hive and went back to work. After I was done and the hive all closed up I noticed the queen had escaped an flew off. What are the odds she finds her way back into here original hive?
Cheers,
Patrick
When installing a new queen using the release method, if she flies --- remain still and stay put. She will often orient on you and return to the hive. Not sure how much removing her caged 30 feet away will affect her orienting
I believe the figure quoted is usually 10% of the time. One of the queens is usually dispatched after a short period of time. It is said most beekeepers don't usually see a second queen when present because they quit looking after they find the first. If you find one queen when looking to split a hive and place a new caged queen --- this is one possibility of the new caged queen not being accepted.
I saw my first two queen hive after five years of beekeeping last week. Of course I was one of the keepers that quit looking after finding a queen. The guy I was with opened a hive that was once strong and right away said he thought it had swarmed. I believe it was three mediums. After looking for a short period he found the old marked queen. He said I believe this hive has two queens. Later he found what looked to be a virgin queen in the bottom medium. He figured they would soon dispatch the old queen so he caged her and took her to another yard.
If it had indeed swarmed I guess another virgin had left with the swarm???